My opinion might change when the entire story is out but I don't get why people are hating on this. This book was brilliant. The scene with Bruce and Selina on the phone was so emotional. The ending seemed rushed, I would've liked to se it later on in the run. But overall this is gearing up to be one epic arc, I would've liked them to have some more small scale stories after King's run and then get to this but overall I am really digging Tynion's run so far. more

This is what happens when a bad editor (Brian Cunningham aka the dude who kicked Gail Simone off Batgirl in hi first day at the office) teams up with a yes man writer. A badly written, horribly edited mess of a book with no redeeming qualities. We could talk about the elephant in the room that is the erasure of Harley and Ivy as a couple but the writer will blame it to the editor and the editor to the writer. Or how Booster Gold was shoehorned into a story that makes zero sense just so they could straightwash both characters.

The worst part of it how the book makes a nod to the failed kiss between Harley and Ivy in Houser's Harley and Ivy mini and literally flips the middle finger to fans of Harley and Ivy.

Conner and Palmiotti build something beautiful with a distinct cast of characters and deep emotional storytelling that pushed boundaries. Humphries and Cunningham turned it into a Ethan Van Sciver CG book.

0/10 more

Classic Tom Taylor. DCeased returns with a much anticipated sequel to DCeased. And it doesn't disappoint. It fast paced, it emotional, it has highs, lows, this comic out the gate is a roller coaster, speeding straight off from its prequel.

Tom Taylor is a superstar writer with works such as DCeased and Injustice. And his sequel to DCeased shares lot of similarities with his past work such as Injustice, but he continuously evolves how he approaches world-building and his niche for tropes, and I am looking forward to what else he can bring in this series. I recommend you guys read the various comic shorts between DCeased and DCeased: Dead Planet, as it seems everything is going to tie back together.

Tom Taylor touches 5 years after the survivors leave Earth, and a team has come this zombie land due to a mysterious recall coming from the Earth. This comic is every bit as wild, action-packed, and well written as its prequel.

Trevor Hairsine also returns for the pencils and its is tonally perfect for a zombie series like this, espcially since Taylor is the writer. Looking forward to a great series.
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Well, that concludes Dark Designs. Overall, this story arc was quite refreshing after King's run with City of Bane, and is by no means a slouch of a run. On the contrary, it is probably some of my favorite Batman story-telling coming from DC as of late. But this final issue is kind of rough, but also enlightening at the same time? So most people would say this is a melo-dramatic filler, which I can see. But it also ties this whole idea of " Dark Designs " together with some excellent dialogue technique.

Like seriously, Tynion has become an excellent writer, and his dialogue shows. Especially when he is talking about Alfred, which Tynion in-cooperates so subtly but effectively. Really pay attention to the last pages. It might sound like some idiotic shit Tom King would do, but it really makes us see what this " Dark Designs " is really is and what Alfred wanted Gotham and Bruce to be, albeit in the perspective of Bruce himself.

The way he writes Batman is dramatic, but its the good type of dramatic compared to King for an example, you feel Batman's frustration and anger and that translates into what is about to transpire next.

But its not without its mortal flaws. The Cat-Bat dialogue stooped down to Tom King level, seriously after what I got from Tynion so far, I expected better. Certain art frames I can tell are also rushed, most notably at the beginning pages. March has very detailed pencils, so it shows when he either rushed it or somebody filled in for him. I also don't understand why the hell Joker even hired Deathstroke in the first place. Yeah, he tried to kill Penguin and failed, but Joker just wanted Deathstroke to drive a sword in his leg??? They also introduce another character, but Tynion merely talks about him rather than showing him for most of the issue, which I find counter-productive. Hopefully this is fleshed out more in Joker War.

The good stuff is that Joker War is being rapidly developed in this issue, and its about ready to pop, so get hyped. Overall, this was a decent ending to Dark Designs, balanced with some really great elements and development with so not so good technique across many areas. But heading into Joker War, Batman fans will almost certainly experience and overwhelming banger finale arc wrapping up four years of Batman: Rebirth.


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Woooo. Aftershock comes in banging. Kaplan and Kowalski introduces a world that shows two distinct lifestyles, a futuristic care-free Utopian haven and the rugged " old-ways " of primitive Western-style farmers and hunters, but there is a deeper more sinister secret between these two peoples.

The contrast between these two life-styles complimented by the art from Kowalski as well as the pastel colors really displays the idea pitched very well. The Future vs the Past, Freedom vs. Luxury. The direction alone pulls people into this comic.

And while this idea may have been done before, the writing and execution by Kaplan is superb to warrant a peek. Going through the routine of introducing the concepts, the world, the characters, Kaplan slowly builds up a dark revelation of this reality these people live in. And by the very last page, goes full throttle on a cliff-hanger.

The direction and world introduced stands out shining and is brought forth with great art and great writing. Its a mix of two distinct genres, sci-fi and revenge Western, both genres I haven't dig myself into yet with comics. But Kaplan, Kowalski, and Aftershock gives me the pleasure to introduce a bundle of both in a well-paced and structured first issue.
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An intriguing enough beginning to entice readers in. Zombie Fiction is evolving, any books like Year Zero, Kids, and now Dead Day and leading the charge on the next age of zombie fiction.

What really carries this book is how it approaches the zombie genre. It is centered around a " Dead Day " in where once a year at night, the dead can rise from their graves. These zombies ain't the eating flesh type, they really are just like humans but dead. Some visit their families, some visits their friends, but some may have some darker intentions. We see that with the introduction of our suburban family and their preparation for " Dead Day ". Lets just say that there is some history that spices up what this approach to zombie fiction and bring.

This book is mainly just alot of introductions, which is typical. We are introduced to our main characters, the concept of Dead Day, all that jazz. But it subtlety peels back to elude us to what is coming next. Ryan Parrot is one of the hottest new-coming writers into the industry, and his start with Dead Day only continues his success. Art from Evgeniy Bornyakov is clean and nice as well, but the colors is what makes her art shine.

Really intriguing approach to zombies, and advertises what is in store for the genre going ahead. more

***Reviews the entire series***

This was pretty fire. For somebody who has never read or got to know Hawkeye that well, this was an excellent comic to know who he is as of 2020. The story basically is that Ronin, Hawkeye's old persona is back in action, except Clint never took back the mantle. So whos Ronin?

Matthew Rosenberg really displays his gift with dialogue and pacing. His characterization of Clint is spot on, comedic, brash, yet calculated and serious when he needs to. That goes for the entire comic series. Rosenberg plays a delicate line between comedy and seriousness of Hawkeye, and its done exceptionally well. The direction/story is a little " out of the box " as you can say, and no doubt can confuse some people at first, but its a really fun, upbeat comic balanced with dark and emotional times.

Alot of cool characters. We have Clint's new girlfriend, as well as several Avengers appearances, and a teenage genius. All of them for what is given were used well in serving the story for what its worth. They all appear to focus around Clint's life, so its nothing super special. The " villain " Hood was also a very cool adversary that really ticked Clint in ways that appealed his dark side.

The art captures the essence of this comic. Serves that comedic dialogue aspect and really brutal action scenes with sharp edges and cuts with Schmidt's pencils. And the color pops, giving an extra bang to the art.

Oveall, certainly one of thee better mini-series coming out of Marvel. Throws the whole Force Works event into the dumpster.

9/10 more

Wow I was so excited for this comic and... yeah, it's terrible, actually. Joe Casey is desperately trying to write a modern teenager and the result is one of those cringe-inducing affairs where an adult makes it clear that they haven't spoken to a teenager since they were in high school. It reads like he made a list of every slang term employed by anyone under 40 in the last ten years and wanted to get every single one of them into the comic so we could all see how "down with the kids" he is. Casey tries to have America not-Chavez distinguish herself from Millennials, but he doesn't seem clear on what the distinction is between the generations. Most notably, the constant use of #hashtags for their own sake, which makes for both an unreadable experience, and is a thing many Gen Z'ers have specifically described as something they find obnoxious about Millennials. I'll throw on a couple points for the art because Dustin Nguyen never disappoints, but it's really hard to recommend this. more

I could swear that I’ve read this exact same story somewhere before. Maybe I’m the one going crazy. I liked the art a lot though, and the writing style is good despite everything.

It looks great, but...

Apparently pulp entertainment is all "racist, sexist, colonial, imperial nonsense" which is "hard to stomach at best" so the team present a story where virtually all the characters are women from every conceivable cultures (except the chronically underrepresented one legged eskimo of mixed heritage). The editorial is littered with extremist rubbish.

All part of the war on the white male and it shows once again that the liberal has nothing new or original to offer. He has to take past glories, and twist them to his own warped mindset.

Obviously I'm out.

It looks great though. more

This anniversary was good. Wasn't as good as Robin or JOker, but still a pretty solid extra-size special. alot of these stories while light, were pretty fun and described different aspects of Catwoman's life. Her good, her bad, her greed, her compassion, each one of those get a story.

Some stories were okay like the ones from Ram V, Liam Sharp, and Jeff Parker. among others. My favorites Paul Dini's and Chuck Dixon's. A big one from Tom King which might hint at future DC plans is also in here.

Overall, it was fun, light and nice, purrfect for something like Catwoman. Again, its 10 bucks and if you are tight right now, don't bother buying. But it was a nice celebration on the elusive cat burglar. more

This is a really unique take on a zombie story. Never really seen anything like it, 5 different people from 5 different parts of the globe, 5 different lives, each experiencing a zombie pandemic through 5 different points of view. And it all flows together really well.

Basically, we are continuing the progression of this zombie apocalypse. Now that it has happened, each of them has to find a way to survive. The coloring is so effective in this story. Each perspective has their own color pallet to distinguish who's perspective you are reading from.

One thing I noticed with the dialogue, rarely any of it actually happens. Most of it are thoughts, not actual speaking. That just shows how skilled Percy is as a writer.

The Zombie action is quite subtle for a zombie book, but it still is effective in pushing the story forward, and in turn provides more space for us to learn about these characters more. And thats the beauty of this specific issue.

The 1st issue was alot of introduction, but this issue really irons out the people we are dealing with here, and through this pandemic, we learn a great deal about each person.

Overall, an excellent 2nd issue, subtle, but very effective and innovative. more

Gave this a shot. So from what I heard, this is basically a set-up issue for those who don't understand the background of this event and what lead up to it. And does it serve its function?

Yeah, this was a good introduction for newbies like me to understand the bare minimum of what is going on. The Kree-Skrull War now is the Kree-Skrull Alliance? Okay cool.

But other than that, thats it. There actual story hasn't even started yet, and this comic is just giving readers a set up so they don't get confused. Larraz's art is cool, Ewing writing is fine, but thats about it. Alot of explanation, so it was kind of a jog to get through.

But yeah nothing special, but this issue is not supposed to be. more

Out of all the anthologies, including DC and AC, this tied with Joker and AC is prob the best one. Tbh, all of these anthologies DC have been pumping out were pretty good, the worst one being WW wasn't even that bad.

To me, there were no standouts, because all of them were great. From Tynion to Lemire to Marz, even Tamaki, all of their stories were cool. I guess that is the charm of Green Lantern as well.

Like Flash, I was never really a big GL guy, but that won't stop you from enjoying this 100 page special and opening your eyes to the legacy GL has bestowed upon us these past 80 years.

We get stories on alot of different Green Lanterns in DC history, from Alan Scott the Hal Jordan to Jessica Cruz, almost all the lanterns get a spotlight, which is probably why these stories were so good. All of them were different because they were dealing with different people.


Shout out to the great late Denny O'Neil, one of the staples writers of DC heyday, and finishing his legacy off with a heart-touching Green Lantern tribute, one of his most revered characters, before ascending to comic book hall of fame.

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Finally got around to reading this book. And what can I say, its just pure fun. Albeit, cosmic-level complicated multiversal stakes fun, but still fun. Snyder and Capullo returns with their sequel Death Metal to wrap up over 3 years of continuity story-telling and even hints to the DC's future moving forward.

First, Metal! Snyder must really like Metal music to base his gigantic continuity spanning over a dozen books on a Slender Man Batman who looked like he came out of a hardcore goth/metal concert.

I was never really into Snyder's take on the DC continuity, or DC continuity in general, but as this was probably the biggest event of the year for comics, I might as well give it a crack. Its probably best to at least read the orignial DNM before reading this though.

The covers, hot damn. Foil chromium cover, thats nice. Shines like the moon.

Capullo's art, like always, awesome. His pencils may as well be the definitive style of DC characters of the past decade, especially his Batman. Though I am really loving how he draws Wonder Woman, especially since she is the protagonist in this. Color as you can see from the cover pop like the sun, its amazing.

On to the story, well its very convoluted, which was expected. Again, its best to read at least the original DNM, but it ties in all of other books the lead up to this series from Flash Forward to Justice League, and even past events in DC history such as Blackest Night and COIE. Many characters show up in this first issue, of course we have Batman and WW. The infamous Batman Who Laughs, Wally West, and even some suprise guests like Lobo and Sgt. Rock.

The story is hard to explain as it is complex and the scope is wide, but to say one thing, its alot of fun. You will not understand everything, either because of continuity or was intentional, but you will still get a kick out of this book. From art to colors to writing, this is almost certain to be one of the hottest books this year. more

Not a bad start, especially for a rookie duo such as Condon and Phillips. I hear this is Chris Condon's first book ever in the industry, so for his official start, it was good.

Starting with the art, Phillips excellently captures the neo-Western lifestyle of Texas with his line work darkened with ink. The colors as well, while might seem amateur-ish on its own, really works in this crime oriented story. The colors are colored in different shades of of " pop ", you can really see the differences of light on each page if you look closely. You can even see like crayon style colors in his work.

On to the story. It starts off with this typically Texan community thats close-knit. Condon really got down the dialogue that people down in Texas or the Southern US in general talk, because some words I don't even understand. It might seem boring or casual, but going deeper into the book, a increasingly hints at a a future event. But that allurement still doesn't cover up that this book can be a little bogged down or dull from time to time.

Our protagonist, 70-year old Sheriff Joe Bob Coates while going on with his regular duties is pressured by his wife to ask their neighbor in the community for a casserole dish. And you will soon dsicover why this is important.

Overall, it was a good start. It still was kind of bleak and dull, which kinda was the point with capturing the lifestyle of this community, but subtly builds up a mystery through this casserole dish that explodes in the last 3rd of the comic.

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After King's disastrous Batman arc, leaving more loose ties and unresolved plot points I can possibly name, DC decided to play safe for once and give fans a more... conventional story, one that wouldn't try to reinvent and deconstruct avery aspect of what it means to be Batman, one that wouldn't feature more filler than actual plot, and one that certainly would not smell its own farts pretending to be deeper and more intelligent than it really is. You know, exactly like a certain controversial game everyone hates and mocks, released few days ago.

Tynion crafted a big mystery that instantly captured our imaginations. It was big, it was convoluted, and and it was made with a plan in mind. It wasn't yet another War of Jokes and Riddles, promising a huge event and then turning out to be a shallow, pointless shell. No, the stakes were seemingly real and you never knew where the plot leads really. It lead here.

Depending on whether or not you've been a fan of Tynion's arc so far, this issue will either satisfy you with several important revelations and answers to questions you may have had, or it's going to convince you it was all just a marketing apéritif leading to the main event, Joker War. That I'll leave to your personal interpretation. To me the comic was definitely good, finally providing a ton of long awaited explanations and also setting up few new twists to be explored in the foreseeable future. Was it outstanding, though? Nah, I wouldn't say so. Not when it comes to uneven art drawn by several artists, not when it comes to storytelling. It's an example of a good, solid book, but as the grand finale, conclusion of an arc, especially in Batman series, I guess I expected a bit more. more

I really liked this. For those who was disappointed by Snyder's version of Batman in Last Knight, than this is the version you were looking for.

To start, the art, panels and lettering are absolutely top notch. Sorrentino's art is so unique to fit this psychological thriller niche, faded but has texture that really gives the book an edge to it. The colors as well, switching from dark to faint colors depending on the mood the Lemire wants you to feel. It as good as the Original Killer Smile Series, and is done with such style to create this melancholy and dark atmosphere.

On to the story. I really liked this idea. Not to spoil it, but Lemire plays around with the idea of Batman in both a realistic setting but dashed with a eeiry touch of insanity. Mr. Smiles returns to prowl on his next victim, and reshapes how the idea of Batman even came to be. Lemire is reshaping the origin of Batman, again using child's literature as not only a contrast, but a factor into Lemire's vision of Batman. Everything you knew about Batman in this book is flipped on its head, and we are left with a ending open to further expansion on Lemire's unusual yet brilliant jab at the Batman mythology.

A surprise yet impressive epilogue to the original Killer Smile series, altering how this story was being told, and by who's perception we were really reading it from.

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Nonsense issue. Punchline is an overhyped character with boring and senseless reasons and origin

*** Reviews the entire series ***

Damn. The debut of DC Black Label courtesy of Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo. Gotta say, it was both underwhelming and impressive at the same time. In this elseworld tale, Batman has fallen unconscious and wounded, to wake up to the death of the Joker. Who did it? With the help of one John Constantine, Batman sets off to piece together perhaps his most startling case yet.

Overall, a solid book. I can't say that I would recommend it, but its certainly is not a bad book. To start, the art. Its gorgeous. DC is so lucky to have an artist like Lee Bermejo, his art is so luscious, realistic and life-like. His style is similar to Alex Ross but with more texture. You can buy this book solely based on his art, thats how damn awe-dropping it is to look at. Colors, transitions and panel layout all the more make this series a joy to read.

The covers as well, they are fire. I don't really talk much about covers, but both the Bermejo Covers and the Lee variants are so crisp, these books will cost fortunes.

Anyways, the story, while interesting, had lackluster execution. Underwhelming cause Azzarello is considered a good writer, but he drives to deep into the dark and edgy aspect of DC Black Label. It certainly excels at the horror aspect thanks to Bermejo's art skills, but the story doesn't feel connected very well, and what is set up is sort of left open ended (might be intentional).

Bermejo attempts to go King style and use alot of poetic or elusive writing and dialogue to amplify the mystery and darkness of this book, but it muddles down into confusion and edginess. Certain things in this book don't make sense either due to a lack of connection to the story or poor execution in the writing.

And then Harley Quinn. When I said they really went deep into this dark and edgy concept, I mean't it. In the first issue, this aspect worked, and help the story get off to a strong start after the 1st issue, Batwang aside. Then in the latter 2, it just seemed forced in so it could debut under DCBL.

Bermejo does play around with quite a few toys, such as magic, hint why Constantine is here, and Bruce's childhood. And while it was cool to see Bermejo use these, it didn't affect the main story to find out who killed Joker, or at least in the way I expected it to. Although, this did peer back into how his childhood affected Bruce as Batman decades later, which was great.

There was also this really cool kind of ghost that wander around in Bruce childhood memories into his journey to find who killed Joker, and Azzarello did some really cool things with her. But her existance just makes the story that much more confusing on this whole Joker investigation.

Overall, this book was solid. The first issue was fire, but it abruptly stumbled through the rest of this series. Still, Bermejo is one hell of a artist.

6/10 more

I am so sad to see that even if WW receives a extra-size, it still the worst one.

I am going to review this extra-size 80th Anniversary in two ways. The first is the ongoing story of WW Reibrth, and the second is the rest of the anthology.

The ongoing story with Cheetah and this sword and Diana's patron, I just don't care anymore. After Rucka, no writer besides the Jason arc was even competent enough to make me care about what is even going on with WW and her journey. Its boring. Cheetah has no strong motivation, no nuance, or any nuance that makes sense, WW puts an end to Cheetah's hunt in the most cliche overused WW style, I just don't care. Which is I am dropping this title, which is so infuriating because I want WW to be up there with Batman and Flash.

The ending was nice, the art was fine, but the spirit just isn't there for me anymore.

As for the rest of the anthology, eh. There some good stories, some whatever. And I am a huge fan of these 80th year anthologies. But WW compared to the others was probably the weakest one. The one by Scott Snyder and the one by Tamaki surprisingly were my favorites, but the rest of them were fine, but all of them did do justice to who Wonder Woman is and what she represents.

Another slight problem I had was the page count. Seriously for 10 bucks, you can't get us 100 pages? Add in some art pages, make this worth my money.

Anyways, eh.
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***Reviews the entire series***

A comic series that will stand the test of time. Zdarsky has really given rise to his career by producing probably one of thee best works in his time, Spider-man: Life Story.

Following Spider-man in real time, from his introduction to in 1963 to the year 2019, it focus on 6 different decades in Spider-man's life, and how he deals with what each decade of Marvel history brings on to him.

The idea alone of this run is very innovative and albeit " ground-breaking " is how comic books, especially in universes like Marvel are taught. Putting Spider-man in real time and aging him to see who he would become really adds layers on how we view Spider-man over the generations.
The art by Mike Bagley, amazing. His line-work feels like classic Spider-man from the 2000s and really brings out the aspect of what each decade had to offer.

One of Zdarksy's main advantages with this series was by aging him from 1963 to 2019, Zdarksy was able to in-cooperate various Spider-man arcs from those decades into his run. Very neat. Events like Civil War, the creation of Venom, Doc Oc and Aunt May, and Miles Morales introduction are all used by Zdarsky in their respective decades. However, since he is trying to in-cooperate all of these elements, this isn't going to follow the canon we know of Spider-man's history.

Zdarsky also uses real world events in his look at Spider-man's life such as 9/11 and the Vietnam War, and how Peter in affected by these events.

But what makes this story so spectacular is the character study, growth and triumph of Peter Parker, the Spider-man. It takes a look at Peter's life as Spider-man as he ages, and how different events and decisions Peter makes as he ages affect him being Spider-man. It goes through lows, highs, it goes through everything Peter Parker would ever face in his life.

Peter experiences all types of problems and challenges in and outside his costume, and it pieces together how we view Peter Parker not just as a superhero, but as a man. It truly is a life story of who Peter was, is, and will be. Its a message of hope, of perseverance, of triumph, so we can all go out with a sense of Spider-man in our lives.

This will stand with Morrison's All-star Superman and Miller's Daredevil as thee best stories superheroes have to offer.

10/10 more

Wow, who would have thought that Green Lantern would get the best treatment out of all these dumb celebration issues that DC has been doing. I think I liked every story in this issue. Starts off with an great story by Tynion and Gary Frank and keeps on going. The art is great, all the stories are fun to read. Definitely recommend this one if you are a fan of Green Lantern

***Reviews the entire series***

Garth Ennis returns to Punisher and MAX Comics with a Soviet-Inspired mission with some classic Punisher Style violence. A Russian mob boss is deciding to go legit, but a former Soviet solider comes out of the woods to kill him for his actions he has done in his life. The Punisher investigates this conflict on behalf of the government, but what he unravels will return him to who Frank once was before he became the Punisher.

Garth Ennis is doing what he does best, violence, gore, action, in 6 issues of classic Punisher. However, Ennis similar to Punisher: Platoon does a assessment on Frank's life in relation to this Soviet Solider's experiences, and a real world outlook on the life and corruption in the military for soldiers, especially those who had to endure tragic loss.

Garth Ennis really knows how to write Punisher, but also write characters in relation to Punisher to amplify and direct Frank's own actions, motives, and decisions. Using this military mixed with crime structure plays hand in hand with who Punisher was and is. Some very nice reflections on Frank Castle.

The action is perfect. There's blood, there's agony, there's explosions, its James Bond mixed with Jar Head. Its great. Art by Burrows brings this really vintage/classic feel to a Punisher Comic, and the colors pop to really appreciate his pencils. For those who really like violence, Punisher is a must read.

A problem for me was around Issues 2-3, it gets really bogged down by exposition about the whole deal between this ex-Soviet Solider and this Mob boss. And while its needed, it slows down the pace and interest alot, and only when it returns to some action that it starts picking up again. So it can throw some people off with the quick spurt of action into a drawn out dialogue for an issue and a half.

But the whole mission to try and find this Mob-Boss, their small talks man to man, this was a fun, action-packed comic series. Would recommend.

8/10 more

Definitely turning into a better direction. I was a huge fan of Lobdell's work in the first half of this second volume of RHATO, but after Artemis and Bizarro left, it started b-lining to another story that didn't retain much attraction, although had some good ideas. This comic run as of recent felt lost, wandering around until it could find its stride. And this issue is giving those holding out a glimpse of that.

The main squad is back in action, Artemis, Bizarro and Jason are in sync with each other, complementing the issues of character development between the three. Lobdell has always been notorious for being a pretty low quality writer, but this volume is proven to show some of his strengths.

On top of character work from previous issues, dialogue between characters in this book is really astounding, given Lobdell's track record.

The art is also regaining its touch, with better pencils coming in to do justice to our three protagonists. We also peer into Artemis's relation to her weapon, Mistress, again building upon her growth as a character.

However, the plot is thrown in out of nowhere. The Untitled from the first volume return, and apparently made some type of deal with Trigon. While its something, it doesn't transition well. We get Essence back which is cool, but it all feels like it was just done so Red Hood and the Outlaws have something to do.

Story is eh, but the character work and art is good. more

This was a good issue, and to be forewarned, this is an issue that will make people extremely excited or let down, depending on what you were expecting from Dark Designs.

First off, the art is awesome like always. I know some people don't like March's art, but it is perfect for a Batman story like this. Inks, colors, composition, layouts are were superb as well.

Now onto the meat. Without spoilers of this issue, Dark Designs is a prequel transitioning straight into Joker War. Alot of people will be mad about a story like this which picked up alot of steam being just a mere prequel, despite it was always hinted at, especially with introductions such as the Designer. There is a big reveal on the Designer, and it was very surprising, but also anti-climatic, but does come full circle on why Dark Designs was structured the way it was. TBH, I wanted more from the Designer, and was quite underwhelmed when discovering what really was going on.

That being said, this comic issue is packed full of revelations and answers alot of questions that were up in the air since the beginning of this arc. It starts coming around full circle why certain actions were performed by certain characters, the deal the Designer and the Evil Four made, each villain's motivations and goals, why Punchline came into the story, who paid Deathstroke, why Joker is sitting at some random bar, all of that gets explained, and leaves the reader for a very high stakes arc coming in with Joker War.

Tynion, although shifting the story in an unexpected and somewhat underwhelming fashion, it is done with masterful technique, showing just how far Tynion has improved as a writer and story teller. We also have a nice hook at the end to finish off this first arc from Tynion.

All in All, I really did like this book and run by Tynion and looking forward to what the final issue of Dark Designs surprises me with. more

A really cool outake on a zombie Apocalypse, done by upcoming talent, Ben Percy with pencils by Ramon Rosanas. Year Zero is a comic series from AWA Upshot opens around a zombie apocalypse through the perception by multiple characters across the world.

You got a hit-man, and war-time refugee, a researcher, and really weird live-in-the-basement kook, you learn about the Apocalypse and each person's life prior and in relation to this out-break.

Still eh about zombie books, but this is a really unique take with a good start. Might like where this story takes us.

Really well written by Percy. It captures each survivor with a different style and outlook, that makes the perception of the zombie apocalypse that much more interesting. Lots of introductions, but a dash of insight at the end reels you in to find out what happens in the next issue.

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